June 2009 Blog Posts (28)

Indonesia is trying to dig itself out of a little foreign debt by protecting some tracts of its rapidly disappearing forests. The nation’s first so-called debt-for-nature swap will focus on preservation efforts for Sumatran forests, Forestry Minister MS Kaban said on Tuesday.

Under the arrangement, a portion of a developing country’s foreign debt — in this case to the US government — is waived in exchange for a commitment to… Continue

All 10 of Sumatra’s provincial governors on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding in Jakarta to establish mutual cooperation to set up a spatial planning program geared to protect the island’s ecosystem.

“It [the signing] will become the benchmark for the island to set up its first spatial planning scheme and will also speed up the implementation of the national spatial plan,” Minister of Public Works Djoko Kirmanto said at the… Continue

Even though environmental protection is still a marginalized issue, the State Ministry for the Environment continued to advocate green economic development by releasing a study into the concept in Jakarta on Friday.

Based on the study’s best-case scenario for a green economy, carbon emissions could be reduced by up to 179 million tons and Gross Domestic Product would increase by 2.8 percent, equivalent to about Rp 140 trillion ($13.7 billion). It… Continue

This video profiles the work of the Climate Change Media Partnership, which was set up by Panos, Internews and the International Institute for Environment and Development to provides annual training fellowships for journalists from the… Continue

Climate has always presented a challenge to farmers, herders, fishermen and others whose livelihoods are closely linked to their environment, particularly those in poor areas of the world. A type of insurance called index insurance now offers significant opportunities as a… Continue

Environmental watchdogs urged the government on Tuesday not to buckle to pressure to approve controversial mining project in North Sulawesi.

The groups said the local government in the Toka Tindung area had set aside those areas for plantation and tourism development, but the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources was bearing down in favor of a mining concession for two companies with British backing, Meares Soputan Mining and Tambang… Continue

Amnesty International is calling on the Al-Shabab armed group not to carry out amputations on four men accused of robbery tomorrow morning in Mogadishu.

The four young men were sentenced today to cross-amputation (amputation of the right hand and the left foot) by an “ad-hoc” court set up by Al-Shabab in their military camp in northern Mogadishu.… Continue

The UN-backed carbon trading scheme will still appeal to investors despite reports that its requirements are unreasonable, an environment official said on Monday.

Under the Kyoto Protocol, the Clean Development Mechanism will allow developed countries to exceed their carbon emission limits by investing in climate-friendly projects in developing countries in exchange for “carbon credits.”

Wildlife authorities want to divide the lone herd of endangered Javan rhinoceros into two populations by 2012 in the hope that this will hasten reproduction, Ujung Kulon National Park spokesman Enjat Sudrajat said at the Banten park on Sunday.

“We have been planning a second habitat for the species, but it will not be far away from the original habitat,” he said.

Enjat said the new herd — initially three females and one male — would… Continue

Despite attempts to have oceans and coastal areas placed on the agenda for the UN Framework Climate Change Convention, the impact of the recent Manado Ocean Declaration is likely to be negligible as it has no legal basis, an activist has said.

The declaration was adopted on May 14 by 76 countries at the World Ocean Conference in Manado, North Sulawesi, with the purpose of addressing the impact of climate change on oceans and coastal… Continue

While acknowledging shortcomings in the legal system’s handling of environmental cases, the Supreme Court said on Thursday it was neither necessary nor feasible to set up a special court to hear these cases.

“It’s not easy to just establish a special court based on the lack of performances of judges. Intensive research is needed before deciding anything,” Supreme Court Chief Justice Harifin Tumpa said at a workshop, titled The Role of Justice in… Continue

East Africa risks losing a vital asset by failing to see the true value that pastoralists bring to national economies and efforts to confront climate change, says the International Institute for Environment and Development in a new briefing paper.

The paper will be published on 17 June, which the United Nations had declared as World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought.

It shows how pastoralism provides many hidden benefits that are not included in national… Continue

Indonesia is set to launch a trust fund to accommodate foreign grants donated to tackle climate change, the National Development Planning Agency said on Wednesday.

The trust fund will be established within a month to receive grants from donors, specifically from developed countries and multilateral agencies, to help the country finance its climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, including central issues such as… Continue

Climate change negotiations are skating on thin ice because of the lack of commitment from developed countries on deeper emissions cuts, a senior Indonesian official said on Wednesday.

Delegates from 182 countries met in Bonn, Germany, from June 1 to 12 to discuss key negotiating texts that would serve as the basis for the climate change conference in Copenhagen in December, which is expected to result in the Copenhagen Protocol.

The latest World Disasters Report by the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies argues that disaster-relief agencies need to shift focus from expensive response operations to cost-effective prevention measures. An important component of this, the report details, is using climate records, monitoring and forecasts to make planning decisions days, weeks, even months ahead.

Minimum temperatures in Riau have increased by nearly two degrees Celsius over the last 20 years, a possible explanation for the extreme weather conditions that frequently hit the area, the provincial Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG) said.

Agency head Blucher Doloksaribu said the change in temperature could not be considered immediately as a “climate change phenomenon.”

“But we have gathered evidence on the field recently that lead… Continue

We at Climate Consortium Denmark are preparing a pre-COP15 press tour with the headline Power Trip to Denmark for journalists from Europe, Asia and United States.

The tour will focus on Denmark as a show case for energy and climate solutions not least due to Denmarks 20 percent integration of wind power in electricity consumption and 12 percent biomass in energy consumption.